Why Is Content Marketing So Important? (Infographic)

Why Is Content Marketing So Important? Because it’s the foundation of your business. It’s what sets you apart from your competition. It builds your online presence and is necessary to brand your uniqueness.

First, let’s define “content marketing”. My favourite definition comes from the Content Marketing Institute…

“Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.” 

Take a peek at this infographic and 12 content marketing stats. Then I’ll break down each stat for you below.

Believe it or not, you will become more successful online if you think less about the money and more about providing relevant and helpful information to your readers.

They are looking for solutions to their problems. And if you provide those solutions, you will connect with your audience and create customer loyalty.

But there are other reasons why you should take this more seriously. Let’s break it down some more…

[adinserter block=”1″]

12 Reasons Why You Should Take Content Marketing More Seriously

But doesn’t everyone? You would think that they would in today’s online marketing industry, but you’d be surprised. How many times do you come across an article or website that’s just full of ads? Or get an email that just seems to push their products on you.

I’m amazed at how many I get each day. I don’t know them or how I got on their email list, but I’m certainly not going to buy something from some I don’t know!

So if I won’t buy from a stranger, why would I expect that of any person’s first visit to my site?

This is why content is so important. If you write a lot of valuable and unique information, it helps to promote your “brand“. And once people get to know they can trust your brand, they will become loyal customers.

The infographic above shows 12 statistics to why content marketing is so important…

#1: Majority Of Businesses Use Content Marketing

Did you know that 86% of B2B (business to business) marketers actively use content marketing, and 77% of B2C (business to consumer) marketers do?

So you can see how widely used it is with online businesses because they see the value that content brings.

The marketing method each type of business uses depends on how they wish to capture their audience:

• B2B markets to audiences who are looking for efficiency and expertise. They want to be educated and are looking for the details.
• B2C markets to audiences who are more than likely looking for deals and entertainment. They are highly influenced by their family and friends.

Often, the lines between B2B and B2C intersect, making marketing strategies even more unique. But no matter what strategy is used, it’s a vital component to any online business success.

#2: Content Is An Effective SEO Technique

A whopping 72% of worldwide marketers say relevant content creation was their most effective SEO strategy. Which is surprising because people will consider content and SEO as two completely separate aspects of digital marketing.

But really, they go hand in hand.

• SEO is used to attract visitors to your site, while content marketing helps to keep them there.
• SEO needs keywords to rank high in the SERPs, while content marketing uses those keywords.
• SEO depends on backlinks, and content marketing is a great way to get those backlinks.

#3: More Than A Quarter Of Budgets Go To Content Marketing

Each year, more and more businesses are realizing the positive impact content is having on their bottom line. When it comes to budgeting, there are two perspectives to consider:

1. Invest more to gain more impact – With more investment in technology, hiring more skill for your creation, etc, the greater your potential impact.
2. Very cost effective – Content marketing costs less than half of any other type of marketing, yet generates three times as many leads and six times more conversions.

The best strategy is to allocate a smaller portion of your marketing budget to content when you’re starting out. Then increase it by 10 or 20% each year as your ROI (return on investment) increases. This way you’re not allocating money that won’t be used.

#4: Content Is The Top Source Of Inbound Marketing

60% of marketers say that their content creation is their top source of inbound marketing. What this means is that when you create content, you’re providing free, helpful solutions to your audience’s problems.

This, in turn, attracts potential customers to your website and also engages and retains existing customers.

Depending on your company goals, you should always create a content strategy that reflects those goals. Each piece of content should bring you closer to your desired outcome.

#5: Document Your Content Marketing Strategy

Unfortunately, only 32% of marketers document their strategies. Yet studies have shown that those who do write them down, are more likely to reach their goals and be successful.

So what holds them back? The usual reasons are:

• It’s not a priority.
• They feel there’s not enough time to do this.

Both of these reasons are usually a result of not considering content to be important enough. If they did, they would make time, right? So go make some time! You’ll be glad you did.

#6: Buyers Seek Out Content Before Purchasing

How many times do you review a product before purchasing? According to statistics, 47% of buyers view 3-5 pieces of content before engaging a sales rep.

This isn’t just for online purchases. It’s for offline as well. I don’t know how many times I’ll see something interesting in a store (usually a more expensive item) but won’t buy it until I’ve researched it on my phone, lol.

Other statistics for email marketing say that a person needs to read about a product or service seven times before deciding to buy. Wouldn’t you rather that content was on your site rather than your competitions?

#7: More Content Equals More Traffic

This statistic alone should inspire you to write more content, lol. Those businesses who publish more than 16 articles per month get almost 3.5 times more traffic than those who only publish 0-4 posts.

And this isn’t just for immediate traffic benefits. According to another study by Hubspot, a high percentage of their post views and leads came from old posts.

When a post has been around for a while, it gets more views and social shares. This, in turn, increases their SERP ranking, which in turn attracts more visitors. And the cycle goes on…

#8: Most Buyers Want Influencer Input In Content

Most B2B buyers, 96% in fact, want to read content with input from industry thought leaders. This makes sense right? If you are looking at purchasing a product, and someone with a well-known brand spoke highly of it, wouldn’t you feel more at ease about buying?

According to LinkedIn Business, 64% of buyers favour podcasts as a content format when in their early stages of the buying process, along with Infographics and news sites. They appreciate the conversations held between the host and a subject matter expert.

#9: Using Forums To Post Content

Though the percentage of internet users reading comments on forum is fairly low, it can still drive a lot of traffic to your site.

Consider how many people constitute 10-15% of people online. It’s millions!

Don’t let this low statistic deter you. Forum marketing is one of the most underutilized traffic generation methods there is. Especially industry forums.

To find the best forum for your niche, just type in your “keyword” (in quotes) plus forum. For example “video software” + forum.

Another way is to type in your “keyword” + Powered by vBulletin. This is the forum software that people use to create and manage forums.

#10: Successful Content Has Longer Titles

In point #7, we talked about older posts still generating views and leads over time. These posts are called compounding posts versus those decaying posts that aren’t doing anything for you.

About 1 in 10 blog posts are compounding. You can help create these posts by ensuring that your content is evergreen, have great keywords and have titles with 6-13 words in them.

Titles with these lengths attract the highest and most consistent amount of traffic. And include authoritative words like What, How, Why, and Best.

#11: Why Is Effective Content Marketing Declining?

It’s surprising to hear that only 30% of B2B marketers view their content as effective. And that’s a decline from 39% the year before.

One such reason may be that it’s easy to learn the tactics and strategies of content marketing, but not know “why” you should do them? If you don’t know “why” you’re using a particular strategy, then you won’t understand “when” you should use it.

Here are seven principles that should keep your content effective and remind you “why” you’re doing it:

1. All content marketing should provide VALUE to your reader.
2. This value is to establish a relationship and trust with your reader.
3. Your content should convince your reader that your viewpoint is correct.
4. If your content promises something, make sure you deliver.
5. Be consistent with your content publishing, preferably three times a week.
6. Your content needs to be better than your competition.
7. Your content should always evolve and stay current with today’s strategies.

#12: Do You Know What Effective Content Marketing Looks Like?

Unfortunately, 55% of B2B marketers don’t know what content marketing success looks like. And it’s certainly harder to determine if you haven’t documented your strategy (#1)… wink wink…

When you know what your goal objectives are, then there are many ways you can track them. First, decide how often you wish to collect this data. Once a month is great because you can measure all the metrics and address any problem areas quickly.

One of the easiest and free ways to get all sorts of metrics is to use Google Analytics.

This provides you with information on how website users interact with your website.

There is also Google Search Console if you want insights on how search engines interact with your site. Between the two, you have much to compare from month to month.

Another source is your autoresponder if you use email marketing. Most reputable services offer a variety of metrics for you. And don’t forget your social media platforms. They provide data as well.

If that isn’t enough for you, lol, a simple Google search for online services will bring up many alternatives for you, some free and some paid

[adinserter block=”1″]

Conclusion

As you can see, content marketing should be taken seriously by all online businesses, no matter what size. Not only does it grow your brand awareness, but it also builds stronger relationships with your leads and customers.

This isn’t a marketing strategy that will ever go away. In fact, as more and more people access the internet worldwide, the necessity for content only increases.

That being said, did you know that your website is the foundation of content marketing. I say this because all too often I hear online “gurus” saying that you can build your business without a website.

That’s nonsense, quite frankly. They’re just trying to sell you something! lol.

If you take a look at all the biggest brands online, no matter what type of business it is, or in which niche, they all have websites. It’s your online real estate. It’s the face of your business!

Do you have a website for your business? Or are you just trying to promote yourself on social media and such?

Can I offer you my honest recommendation?

If you haven’t started an online business yet and would like to learn how to do it properly, then please come and see where I learned everything about online marketing, and run my own successful business to this day.

Click on the button below, and you can read all about it.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this infographic. It’s always a nice change of pace to see the stats in visual form, isn’t it?

If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below. I’d love to hear from you!

Cheers,

Suzanne